2[H]4U

Oh shit, we must have so many game developers and publicists browsing these boards for the number of "official" threads I see. Is working at Valve really as super as I hear?

Silliness aside: I got gifted a copy of the beta and can't even start to figure out what to do. The menu is set up horribly: here are a bunch of characters, some leaderboards, and now guess at exactly what this game is about and how you play it. Have fun! That's our part over.

Gawd

Oh shit, we must have so many game developers and publicists browsing these boards for the number of "official" threads I see. Is working at Valve really as super as I hear?

Silliness aside: I got gifted a copy of the beta and can't even start to figure out what to do. The menu is set up horribly: here are a bunch of characters, some leaderboards, and now guess at exactly what this game is about and how you play it. Have fun! That's our part over.

This is a large part of why its still (closed) beta. Valve wants to release an approachable, well-explained game. The largest issue is that while the goal of the game is pretty clear (kill the other guy's base), the most effective paths to that goal are highly counter-intuitive. It is almost a micro-cosm of MMOs: The goal is to go kill that raid boss, but first bring me 30 creep-lasthits and I'll reward you with your choice of sick items needed to crush your opponents.

The easiest way to learn a bit is press play at the top, then create a lobby, under lobby options enable bots (passive difficulty) and then just start. You will get a screen of heroes to pick, either pick random (there is a button) or pick one that looks cool. No rush, passive bots have plenty of time. Now experiment like crazy. Things you learn from this won't win you many games versus thinking people, but they get you somewhat familiar with the control scheme, economy, etc.

Edit again: Dremic is still wrong about CM She builds flexibly but depending on AOE requirements and team/lanemates, Start 1-1-1 and max Q or W while potentially skipping ulti. Goal for me is to go something like 4-3-2-2 at 11. Aura is handy but so long as it is keeping your mana requirements in check, no need to level it higher.

Disclaimer: Sometimes your team needs the mana aura. Thats fine, 1141 is a real build too, but USUALLY the mana aura isn't worth being a non-factor starting at 10 minutes.

Supreme [H]ardness

Oh shit, we must have so many game developers and publicists browsing these boards for the number of "official" threads I see. Is working at Valve really as super as I hear?

Silliness aside: I got gifted a copy of the beta and can't even start to figure out what to do. The menu is set up horribly: here are a bunch of characters, some leaderboards, and now guess at exactly what this game is about and how you play it. Have fun! That's our part over.

2[H]4U

The easiest way to learn a bit is press play at the top, then create a lobby, under lobby options enable bots (passive difficulty) and then just start. You will get a screen of heroes to pick, either pick random (there is a button) or pick one that looks cool. No rush, passive bots have plenty of time. Now experiment like crazy. Things you learn from this won't win you many games versus thinking people, but they get you somewhat familiar with the control scheme, economy, etc.

That's exactly what I did in an attempt not to shit up someone else's game but... still ended up meandering around aimlessly trying to understand exactly what the process was meant to be. I've never been into any MOBAs before, since the people I've known who play them all tend to be the scummiest parts of /v/ touching their own dicks and waving their autism-spectrum disorders around. But I wanted to give it a fair try and evaluate it on merit. The only real hurdle being that to a MOBA newcomer it's not really clear where to start.

I should just get youtubing, I guess. Too many games to play, not enough time.

Supreme [H]ardness

Joined

Dec 20, 2003

Messages

6,496

Subbed.

I learned to play DOTA 2 after following a thread on Neogaf that led me to dotafire.com
Dotafire has guides written for all heroes that pretty much guide you how you should be progressing through a round. I found a really good guide when I started that basically broke it down by level and minutes. At Lvl X, do this; at 10 minutes you should be here, do this. Once you get the hang of the flow, then its easier to experiment with other strategies like buying other items, taking different upgrade paths, etc, etc. Now I just random pick on every game, because I still have not played with all the heroes and am still learning most of them, but already have a few favorites. (Phantom Panther, Death Prophet, Viper+Manta oh yes)

Yes and Sn0_Man is right, play easy(It's a damn lie) bot matches in the beginning. That way you know what a real team coming at you looks like. Most people don't team up and communicate like the bots do.

Supreme [H]ardness

This is a large part of why its still (closed) beta. Valve wants to release an approachable, well-explained game. The largest issue is that while the goal of the game is pretty clear (kill the other guy's base), the most effective paths to that goal are highly counter-intuitive. It is almost a micro-cosm of MMOs: The goal is to go kill that raid boss, but first bring me 30 creep-lasthits and I'll reward you with your choice of sick items needed to crush your opponents.

The easiest way to learn a bit is press play at the top, then create a lobby, under lobby options enable bots (passive difficulty) and then just start. You will get a screen of heroes to pick, either pick random (there is a button) or pick one that looks cool. No rush, passive bots have plenty of time. Now experiment like crazy. Things you learn from this won't win you many games versus thinking people, but they get you somewhat familiar with the control scheme, economy, etc.

Edit again: Dremic is still wrong about CM She builds flexibly but depending on AOE requirements and team/lanemates, Start 1-1-1 and max Q or W while potentially skipping ulti. Goal for me is to go something like 4-3-2-2 at 11. Aura is handy but so long as it is keeping your mana requirements in check, no need to level it higher.

Disclaimer: Sometimes your team needs the mana aura. Thats fine, 1141 is a real build too, but USUALLY the mana aura isn't worth being a non-factor starting at 10 minutes.

you can easily dominate a lane with 1-1-4-1 builds. especially if you arent babysitting. but even if you are babysitting its still extremely efficient for your team mates. you can essentially ability spam them. maybe it has been awhile since youve had 200% mana regen at level 6

anyways. people play differently. personally i think the mana regen and ice imprisonment is a better way to play. especially with the majority of team compositions. nothing like a sven that can stun all the time

EDIT:

also i still look at guides sometimes as I originally came from HoN and some of the heroes differ. Also sometimes i look at other peoples skill builds etc.

i generally like finding new ways to play as well, for instance ursa with a shadowblade in a pub is hilarious because nobody buys observer wards or eyes.

2[H]4U

Joined

Dec 17, 2005

Messages

2,120

Clockwerk seems pretty strong, I know he was in some tourney matches in October.

The cogs can also be used to escape, block a choke point, slow a GS Sven on the rampage, etc. And melee allies can still attack a foe trapped in them from the outside. Flare is global, obviously, but it's also 200 to their face in close range. Mana costs are low.

Gawd

Joined

Mar 23, 2012

Messages

778

Clockwerk is pretty ineffective when he is behind, since his main stun and core ability really is his ulti that pulls him in to enemies. Unfortunately, if you aren't way ahead of that enemy, showing up beside him is much akin to suicide (especially if he has buddies who can get to him faster than your buddies can show up. I mean, his abilities do stuff but when the core of your hero is "put myself as far out of position as is humanly possible" you might need to rethink your hero choice XD.

IF Clockwerk can get ahead enough, then he becomes an unstoppable, nigh-global rape train, but there are lots of other heroes who do similar things when ahead and offer less suicide when behind. (Pudge comes to mind).

Supreme [H]ardness

Clockwerk seems pretty strong, I know he was in some tourney matches in October.

The cogs can also be used to escape, block a choke point, slow a GS Sven on the rampage, etc. And melee allies can still attack a foe trapped in them from the outside. Flare is global, obviously, but it's also 200 to their face in close range. Mana costs are low.

2[H]4U

Clockwerk is pretty ineffective when he is behind, since his main stun and core ability really is his ulti that pulls him in to enemies. Unfortunately, if you aren't way ahead of that enemy, showing up beside him is much akin to suicide (especially if he has buddies who can get to him faster than your buddies can show up. I mean, his abilities do stuff but when the core of your hero is "put myself as far out of position as is humanly possible" you might need to rethink your hero choice XD.

IF Clockwerk can get ahead enough, then he becomes an unstoppable, nigh-global rape train, but there are lots of other heroes who do similar things when ahead and offer less suicide when behind. (Pudge comes to mind).

The grappling hook is a core ability, but the other abilities will be used more often due to CD.

Every kind of swap, TP, rewind from Weaver, etc. has to be used deftly. Vengeful Spirit can get surrounded and torn to pieces but the trade can be worth it. So CW has to be careful. But if you're with your allies, it is good go directly at the supports trying to stay back and wail on them, or fleeing enemies, hook an ally to escape, etc.

Storm Hammer usually means Sven will then run up to attack, but that running takes a second or two. The ulti at lvl 3 just does that instantly with a two-second stun.

Edit: Magnus is on god tier now for always being banned, and he can get out of position/killed with Skewer if the timing is wrong.

2[H]4U

Yes, it's like that in many ways. Basically the goal is to bash open as many piñatas full of gold as possible, or help a teammate to do it. The creeps are pawns, cannon fodder along the way. Buy and build items instead of units.

But it could be much more complex as an RPG, as seen with the hero Invoker. And there's a dungeon boss.

Gawd

But I clearly did because I'm at like 3K games (between HoN and Dota 2, but w/e, the skills are directly transferrable).

Rofl @Gooch. The reason he was freaking out is because he is stuck in the game with you for the next half hour and despite him informing you of how you can be better with no additional effort on your part, you are persisting with actively sabotaging his chances of victory. It sounds harsh, but that's Dota. Also, Drow is OP so I don't blame people

Supreme [H]ardness

But I clearly did because I'm at like 3K games (between HoN and Dota 2, but w/e, the skills are directly transferrable).

Rofl @Gooch. The reason he was freaking out is because he is stuck in the game with you for the next half hour and despite him informing you of how you can be better with no additional effort on your part, you are persisting with actively sabotaging his chances of victory. It sounds harsh, but that's Dota. Also, Drow is OP so I don't blame people